Panama Canal Cruise Part 2

 Huatulco, Mexico -January 13, 2024

We arrived early in the morning.  The view from our balcony was absolutely beautiful.  

There were a lot of unfinished structures on the hillside.

Nazca Booby (new life lister)

Brown Booby

Ken hired a taxi driver to take him somewhere he could see birds.  The driver was not a birder, but he knew a good place to go.  Ken had a wonderful time birding for several hours.

Catholic church in town

Sculpture on the pier

We knew Michelle's kids were off school, so later in the afternoon we Facetimed with them to show them this gorgeous view.

Sail away

Puerta Vallarta, Mexico  January 15, 2024

We have been here many times on cruise ships.

Taken from our balcony, this picture shows the little shopping area near the dock where I shopped and bought a couple of things.  Ken walked down to a nearby park and birded for a little while.

Iguana sunning itself.

Crab

The Island Princess

On our side of the ship, it felt like we were downtown.

We sat out there and read for quite a while in the afternoon.  The weather was perfect and we were on the shady side of the ship.  It was such a lovely afternoon.  That afternoon is a highlight memory of our cruise.

Sail away

The Library

This was my favorite place to go on the ship.  We went there to play games, read, and peruse books.  I will tell you more about this wonderful place in an upcoming post.

Evenings and Good Food

The evenings included two formal nights and always good food.

The pictures of the food are kind of random, but all were delicious.

This doesn't look that great, but that beef was so delicious!

Empanadas

Beef Wellington is always delicious.

Princess Dream has been on the menu for years, but they have slightly changed the recipe.  It was good.

We discovered something new on this cruise:  they have a specialty dessert menu.  It is not listed on the regular menu.  I ordered the Black Forest Cherry Cake.  It was huge!  Even with two of us eating it, we left about half of it.

This lovely couple sat at the table near ours.  They were from Montreal, Canada and spoke French.  But they could also speak English pretty well.  We so enjoyed visiting with and getting to know them.  They are still on the cruise.  After dropping us off in Los Angeles, the cruise went on as a World Cruise.  They won't get back to Florida until the end of April.

I wish this was a better picture.  This is our friend, Cindy who is in our ward.  She and her husband, Court were on our same cruise.  They were cruising with Court's sister, Debbie and her husband.  We sat by them in this class about the Panama Canal, but my bad selfie skills didn't even get Court in the picture.  We really like Cindy and Court.

We went to some shows and classes or presentations in the Princess Theater.

But our favorite was listening to Derek Dishington each night in one of the bars.  He played most nights from 8:15pm - 11:00.  We always left at the 10:00pm break.  He was a fabulous pianist and singer.  He would take requests.  If he knew it, he would play it that night.  If he didn't know it, he would learn it the next day or the next and then play and sing it that night.  He looked it up on the computer, downloaded it and then learned it.  He must have had a keyboard in his room.  He was personable and friendly and was a great entertainer.  He would get everyone singing together.  It was such a wonderful atmosphere.  He sang The Piano Man several times.  He was the piano man.  The words to that song describe him.  One of our favorites was American Pie (everyone was singing so loud.) He would try songs from every genre and era. He was from Scotland, so incorporated many Scottish songs. We have been on many cruises, but feel like Derek was one of the best entertainers we have heard.

This is the best picture we got of Derek- not great.

This guy was a character.  He seemed to be on the cruise by himself.  He appeared every night in the bars with his cowboy hat and cane.  He danced in modern dance\ interpretive dance style while he sang along with the performer.  He had no inhibitions.  Honestly, it was embarrassing.  I noticed most people tried to just ignore him.  We called him the cowboy.

We disembarked in Los Angeles.  We spent the night in a hotel near the airport and flew home the next day.  It was such a lovely two week cruise.

From Ken's journal:

January 20, 2024: (Saturday)

Last night Kay and I got home from a wonderful cruise adventure. On January 3, we flew from St. George to Fort Lauderdale, Florida (via Salt Lake City). It was a red-eye flight from Salt Lake to Fort Lauderdale, and so we arrived there very tired. I don’t think I got any sleep during the night. We had to wait at the airport baggage area from 5:30 AM to about 10:00 AM before we got transferred to the ship. It didn’t take too long to get processed and onto the boat, but it was still rather stressful, given how tired we both were.

Once we were on the ship, though, the going was nice and easy. We were able to drop our carry-ons in our cabin immediately. We started enjoying daily naps and luscious food. We rested that first afternoon and evening and got an excellent night’s sleep that first night, recovering nicely from the rigors of our travels.

Other than Sundays, I would get up between 6:00 and 6:30 AM, go down to the gym and do my 20 pushups, and then walk around deck 7 for 1.5 to 1.75 hours, getting between 5 and 6-miles in. It was always a delightful workout, and I enjoyed watching the sun come up most mornings. However, I was surprised and disappointed to not see any whales or porpoises during the cruise. Although I didn’t see any whales, I did hear 4 of them surface and exhale as we were entering Banderas Bay near Puerto Vallarta. Unfortunately, it was still too dark for me to actually see them.

I would then return to the stateroom and shower and shave, getting ready for the day. Kay and I would go up to the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast somewhere around 9:00 AM for a light breakfast. After eating, we usually went back to the room, where I would read, enjoy the view from our large balcony, and take a short nap before lunch.

We ate in the formal (Bordeau) dining room every day we could, which was every sea day. We normally arrived at about 1:00 PM. The dining room wasn’t open for lunch on days we were at port. We also ate in the formal dining room every evening for dinner. I LOVED both lunch and dinner. The lunch menu was pretty static from day-to-day, with only about three menu items changing each day. Despite that, there were enough options that I always felt like I didn’t had plenty of good choices. I always ordered the roasted cauliflower plate as one of my two hors d’oeuvres. My second choice normally was the soup offered that day. My main entrée was usually different each day, although I did order the green salad three different times during the two weeks we ate there. We quickly discovered that the chefs on this ship (The Island Princess), knew how to make luscious gelato. Therefore, we both usually ordered the ice cream sundae with all the toppings for dessert each day.

Each day’s menu for dinner was always loaded with delectable sounding hors d’oeuvres and main entrees. It was usually difficult to choose what I wanted most. On the hors d’oeuvres, I dealt with the problem by selecting two (and sometimes three) of their options. I always loved their chilled fruit/berry soups (They tasted more like a smoothie to me). I almost always chose a soup for one (or two) of my hors d’oeuvres. The main course presented more of a problem for me. There were ALWAYS multiple options that I wanted to order, but I had to control myself somewhere. Therefore, I always ordered one main entrée. I tried some fish and seafood options, but I still find them less appealing than other options. I will keep trying them because I know they are good for me, and that is how I have learned to like many different dishes that I find delectable now. Their beef, pork and lamb dishes were particularly delicious. We usually eat chicken for our meat at home, and so those meats were a special treat for me. For dessert, they always offered a crème brulee flavor (usually French Vanilla or Coconut), and an assortment of ice cream options. I usually ordered two desserts—crème brulee and one of the ice cream dishes. Yum, yum!!

Both lunch and dinner were a leisurely affair, giving Kay and I an excellent chance to chat together and enjoy each other’s company. We always asked for a table for two, instead of sharing a table with others.

After lunch, we usually went back to our stateroom to enjoy a long nap and I frequently spent more time reading and enjoying the balcony. Sometimes I even got to do some birding from the balcony, although the only bird species flying around the ship while at sea were either Brown Boobys or Nazca Boobys. The Nazca Booby was a new life list species for me.

Four times during our 9 sea days, I spent an hour on a stationary bike in the ship’s gym. It was my effort to control my weight and to maintain my biking conditioning. It was never fun, and it was always a sweaty experience; but I always left the gym feeling good about my efforts. After the first two spins, I learned that I could minimize my focus on my “burn” pain by reading from my book while I rode the bike. Thus, that is what I did the last couple of rides.

After dinner, sometimes we would attend the show put on by that night’s performer. We didn’t choose to attend any of the ship’s dance troupe performances. We have become tired of them over the years. They always seem the same to me. Too much suggestive shaking and shimmying. I usually enjoyed the individual performers though. They had vocal soloists, a ventriloquist, instrumentalists, and impressionists, who performed for us.

After the show, we always went to the Crooner’s Lounge to listen to a young Scottish pianist and singer by the name of Derek Dishington. He played songs from our era and took requests from anyone in the audience. We were astounded at his knowledge and abilities. He knew almost every request that was made. When he didn’t know a certain request, he apparently went to work the next day in his stateroom, researching it and learning to play it. He played and sang songs from the 1930’s (A Gershwin), to numbers that are currently popular. He could perform almost any singer/songwriter’s works. He also chose to play a few Irish or Scottish bar songs. He was also very personable and audience savvy, creating an enjoyable environment that caused us to feel a bond not only with him, but also with the normal crowd of strangers that joined us in following him. It always made for a delightful evening full of trips down memory lane as we listened and sang together the various hit songs from our past. We spent our time with Derek from 8:15 PM to 10:00 PM, when we would retire to our room and go to bed.

Perhaps the most interesting day on the ship was the day we transited through the several sets of locks and Gatun Lake in the Panama Canal. It was a special treat to see Moroni sitting atop the Panama City Temple as we passed through the Mira Flores Locks. Our balcony on the port side gave us a great view of a ship or two going through the locks the opposite way from us. At lunch, we went to the dining room and were happily surprised to experience the ship’s descent in a lock, as the water was pumped out of our lock. I was surprised how little space there was between the side of the ship and the edge of the dock.

Obviously, my biggest highlight was birding in Costa Rica and in Huatulco and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I had arranged for a bird guide in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. His name was Gerardo Matis. He also brought his birding friend, Warren, to help me. They took me to several nearby birding hotspots; and paid for us to go on a boat tour up a nearby river, allowing us to see various bird species that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to see. I had paid for a three-hour birding tour, but they kept me out for six hours. I gave them all the money I had in my wallet for a tip (Unfortunately, that was only $36. They deserved a lot more than that.).

In Huatulco, I hired a taxi driver to take me to a nearby back road area, where I spent several hours birding. The birding was also great at that place. In Puerto Vallarta, I walked about a mile to a small estuary park and birded there for a few hours. In all, I added 20 new species to my life list. What great fun! I LOVE seeing so many of God’s incredibly beautiful creations!!